Vista Ridge came out on top, but both teams walked away winners. After trailing by 13 points after the first quarter, Liberty rallied to take the game to overtime, but it was Vista Ridge which came out on top 53-45 in overtime Thursday night. Tied 45-45 after the fourth quarter, the Wolves held the Lancers scoreless in overtime to take the win on the Lancers’ home court.  The win for Vista Ridge (6-7, 3-1) comes after falling to Fountain Fort-Carson in overtime on Tuesday and is its first win in overtime out of three this season. After dropping their past two games, the win gives the Wolves confidence moving forward in COS Metro league play.   “We honestly had to come together as a team and use each other instead of being independent,” Senior Solé Alexander said. “We played more as a team today, which I’m very proud of. It feels amazing to get an overtime win. We should have won that last game, but we just have to keep proving that we are better than what we believe in our own heads. It’s a mindset at the end of the day.”  Vista Ridge led 19-6 after the first quarter, but Liberty responded in the second half with a 10-0 run to cut the Wolves’ lead to 26-22 at the break. After a slow six minutes into the third quarter, Liberty junior Felicity Thompson tied the game 28-28, but Wolves freshman Arayah Johnson gave them a 33-30 edge into the fourth.  Liberty (4-9, 0-3) took the lead for the first time late in the fourth quarter and took the game into overtime, where it remained scoreless.  “Instead of taking the quicker shots, we went and valued the ball and made sure we kept longer on offense than they did,” Alexander said.  Alexander led the Wolves on Thursday with 13 points, followed by Johnson with 12 points, all from 3-pointers. Alexander has been a key part of the Vista Ridge offense this season, recording five double-doubles and averaging 8.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per game.  “She is one of two seniors on the team, which comes with a lot of leadership and responsibility, but she’s been a rock for us,” Wolves coach Jeremy Ackerly said. “Not just shooting the ball from mid-range, but securing rebounds and altering shots inside. She is where we feel most comfortable.” Liberty is still looking to break a seven-game losing streak dating back to Dec. 17. But Lancer head coach Joe Miller saw Thursday’s game as a breakthrough for his team in overcoming adversity.  “We have talked about maintaining composure and overcoming adversity, and they actually did that tonight,” Miller said. “They settled down, stuck with the game plan, kept chipping away and took itinto overtime. Super proud of them. This is absolutely a springboard to take us forward into our season. We just need to get to a point to win close games like this one.”  The Lancers were without their top rebounder Emma Hill, who averages 10.6 rebounds per game. But Thompson filled the void by going up against Alexander and going nearly perfect at the foul line while putting up eight points.   “Felicity had the game of her life tonight,” Miller said. “We’ve been waiting for her to become the player we know she can become. Without Emma, we challenged her to take up slack on rebounding and she stepped up.”  Thursday’s win also had special significance after the passing of Ackerly’s grandmother, Betty, Thursday morning. At halftime, the message was to win for Betty, who was a fan of the team and watched the Wolves’ games from home.  “Its been a rough day, we were trying to do something for her,” Ackerly said. “Get buckets for Betty and make it bigger than ourselves. More so hold ourselves accountable to the efforts she would be proud of. I’m happy we did that today.”  ...read more read less